A message from the leader of the council and chief executive
A bank holiday weekend is approaching, and we know this means there could be an influx of visitors to the district, especially if the weather is nice. We are aware of concerns in some of our communities about the potential impact of this.
We’re working jointly with our colleagues at North Yorkshire County Council to ensure there is enough space to allow people to safely stay two metres apart. For instance, you may be aware of the measures that are now in place in Harrogate town centre to make more space available for pedestrians.
We cannot stop people coming to our district, but we are asking them to respect and observe the rules on social distancing and not to gather in groups. We are also warning them that facilities like public toilets will not be open.
As you will be aware, government has eased some of the lockdown restrictions and steps are now being taken to slowly return society to how it was before March. In our district we have begun work on our ‘return-to-normal’ plan with a major focus on economic recovery, particularly our town centres.
We have an important role to play when it comes to supporting local businesses. To date, we have paid out business support grants totalling more than £45.5 million to almost 4,000 organisations across the district.
We anticipate there will be further easing of the lockdown in June and we are assessing the impact this may have on things like retail outlets.
While some of our services remain affected by the crisis, things like the democratic process and public-facing decision making has resumed again in earnest. We held the first remote video meeting of our cabinet earlier this month and since then, other committee meetings have taken place using the technology.
One of the things discussed at the most recent cabinet meeting was the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on our finances. This is a combination of the cost of responding to the crisis and a loss of income because services and facilities are closed.
We have received £1.6 million in support from government so far and we are lobbying for more to balance what could be a £14 million shortfall.
We will be working hard to ensure that there is no impact on those services that are vital to you, and we have already begun to put some measures in place.
Finally, we continue to be very busy with our community support efforts, especially for the most vulnerable in the community. We have redeployed staff from across the council to support this work. They have been making regular calls to thousands of people across the district to check they are OK. Our work in this area will continue until further notice.
Best wishes and stay safe.
|
